Sinabung Evacuees Mark Holiday Away From Homes, but Thankful to Be Safe

While Muslims in the rest of the country marked a fairly incident-free Idul Fitri on Friday, in North Sumatra’s Karo district the holiday was welcomed in evacuation camps in the shadow of the still-erupting Mount Sinabung.

The volcano, which began erupting on Aug. 29 after lying dormant for 400 years, has driven 27,000 people from their homes and into 23 evacuation camps.

North Sumatra is predominantly Christian, and while celebrations for Idul Fitri were relatively low key, several of the Muslim evacuees said the other people at the camps had shared the day with them.

“This is the first time our village has had to celebrate Idul Fitri outside the village,” Siti Hafsah Ginting, from Sigarang-garang village, said on Saturday. Siti is one of 2,500 evacuees currently staying at the Sempakata camp.

The mother of four said the realization that she had left her home behind, along with her family’s belongings, livestock and farm, made this a particularly sad holiday.